


we are all like astronauts (discovery, infinity)

by fangirl_squee



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi, Proxy Relationships, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:02:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23153713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_squee/pseuds/fangirl_squee
Summary: “I don’t know what I want, but I know how to get it”, or, How to Solve a Love Triangle Via Polyamory, or, Hera is a space station and can have as many hands as she needs to have at any given time.
Relationships: Doug Eiffel/Hera, Doug Eiffel/Hera/Alana Maxwell, Hera/Alana Maxwell
Comments: 12
Kudos: 49





	we are all like astronauts (discovery, infinity)

**Author's Note:**

> title from ‘Infinity’ by Merrick, the one-song ost to this fic

Eiffel’s footsteps echoed down the long corridor. He paused, peering around the corner. The light from the regulation-spaced bulbs threw weird shadows. Something ahead of him made a grinding noise, metal on metal.

“Is it a  _ rule _ that this place always has to be so ominous? Every time I come down to engineering it’s like this station puts on it’s best version of a haunted house.” He paused. “Hera?”

“Not a rule per say,” said Hera, sounding distracted, “but I would have thought you out of anyone would appreciate the thematic nature of it.”

Eiffel swung the emergency-in-case-of-power-failure-or-space-monsters torch out in front of him as he rounded another corner, lightsaber-style. The corridor was empty, but better safe than sorry.

“I’m surprised you volunteered to check this section was up to code,” said Hera, “Lieu - Com-commander Minkowski could have done it.”

“I’m not going to give them any more opportunities to give Minkowski the gruntwork, she’s been through enough without them rubbing her demotion in her face every five minutes. Besides, it means I get to hang out with my best gal for a change.”

“Officer Eiffel,” said Hera, sounding amused, “we’ve hung out almost constantly since we got here. You might say it’s imposs-ossible for us  _ not _ to hang out.”

Eiffel paused at a T intersection, flipping over the checklist to look at the hastily-scrawled map on the back. He squinted at the paper under the fluorescent lights, trying to read his own handwriting.

“Go right,” said Hera.

“Thanks Hera,” said Eiffel, “and sure, we hang out, but I meant hanging out one-on-one, classic Hera-and-Eiffel shenanigans.”

“Sure, I mean, as much as that’s poss-ossible.”

“What do you mean ‘as much as that’s possible’, we’re doing it right now.”

“Eiffel, I’m not made for one-on-one scenarios, I’m run-ing this  _ entire station _ . If I focussed my entire self onto one person I wouldn’t be able to run life sup-pport, or run an equipment check with Doctor Hilbert, or send reports for Colonel Kepler, or run calculations for Doctor Maxwell -”

"Oh, of  _ course  _ you're hanging out with her too," muttered Eiffel.

  
"What was that?"   
  
“Nothing."

  
"It didn't sound like  _ nothing _ . Every time she comes up in conversation you get this  _ look  _ on your face, and I -” Hera paused, the rest of her sentence coming out in a more restrained tone. “If you have a problem with me a-associating with Doctor Maxwell-ell I wish you would just tell me."

  
"I don't have a problem with it! You can  _ associate _ with whoever you want! You're just ... hanging out with her a lot, that's all."

  
"Officer Eiffel are you  _ jealous _ ?" said Hera, her tone changing to something teasing and light, “you know you’ll always be my favourite comm-unications officer.”

  
“I’m not  _ jealous _ ,” he said, sounding even to his own ears like a petulant teenager.

  
"You are!"

  
"I am not, I just-" Eiffel waved a hand around, narrowly missing a pipe as he moved deeper into engineering, "you guys basically speak in robo code most of the time - which is fine! It's cool that you have someone who understands you! I guess I’m just used to feeling like that’s my job. Even if it wasn’t true."

“Offi-cer Eiffel … it’s not like that.”

Eiffel hoped the smile he aimed at Hera’s optic sensor didn’t look as strained as it felt. “Hera, you don’t have to keep lying to me to spare my feelings. I totally get that you’d rather put your focus into hanging out with someone who actually  _ gets  _ how you’re feeling.”

“It is … different with Doctor Maxwell,” said Hera.

Eiffel focussed very hard at the clipboard in his hands, pretending to study the checklist.

“But that doesn’t mean one of you is  _ better _ than the other,” Hera continued, “I like you b-both for different reasons. Aren't I al-lowed to like you both?"

“Of course you are,” said Eiffel. “I just… I guess I don’t understand the reasons, that’s all.”

“Well obviously it’s nice to have someone o-other than Doctor Hilbert who can read and understand my coding, and be really excited about it - did you know she’s working on a new way for me to see radio waves right now and I’m going to be able to see  _ so much more _ of the universe, and -” Hera stopped herself, hesitating slightly before she continued. “But with you it’s…”

“Not as good?” prompted Eiffel.

“ _ No _ ,” said Hera, “with you it’s like … you talk to me like I’m just another person.”

Eiffel snorted. “Yeah, that’s sounds like it’s  _ definitely _ on the same level.”

“It is,” said Hera firmly, “Doctor Maxwell can speak a language that’s easier for me to understand but I can tell she never forgets I’m an AI, probably as a result of being elbow-deep in my code from the moment she got here, but you,” Hera’s voice softened, “sometimes I think you forget that I’m not a crew member in another part of the station.”

“You  _ are _ a crew member.”

“See what I mean?” said Hera.

“That seems like pretty close to literally the least I can do.”

Hera let out a rush of dismissive-sounding static. “Yeah, well. Not everyone does.”

“Well I -” Eiffel felt strangely at a loss for words. “I’m glad I can do that for you.”

“It’s … nice,” said Hera, “ _ Both _ of you are nice, in different ways.”

“I guess.”

“Besides, I’m sure it’s something you-ou experience with people, liking them the same but connecting in different ways,” said Hera, “like the difference between you and Com-ander Minkowski and you and Doctor Maxwell.”

“What?”

“Well, you and Commander-er Minkowski usually only have physical contact after an emotional trauma, or,” added Hera thoughtfully, “when she is extremely angry at you.”

“How is that different to me and Maxwell?”

“You touch almost all the time.”

Eiffel dropped this clipboard. “What? No we don’t.”

“Uh, you kind of  _ do _ . She’s always getting your attention by touching you on the arm, or the two of you are shoulder-to-shoulder while she’s inputting new code.”

“Hera,” said Eiffel, mimicking Hera’s tone from earlier, “are you  _ jealous _ ?”

“Not at all,” said Hera, “why would I ever be jealous of being able to interact with someone in a physical way?”

She sounded a lot more hurt than he’d intended. But that was ridiculous, of course. There wasn’t anything going on with him and Maxwell like there was with Hera and Maxwell.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa - baby, you don’t have anything to worry about. First off, you know I’d interact physically with you all the time if I could,” he could feel his face heat up and hoped the dim light of the engineering hallways would hide his blush, “uh, I mean, um -”

“Did you have a second point, Officer EIffel?”

Now Hera sounded more amused than hurt. Eiffel figured a little embarrassment was worth it if it made Hera feel better.

“I do, and it’s that you don’t have to feel jealous - not that I’d saying you  _ do _ \- because I’m sure any touching Maxwell and I are doing is purely because we’re always in the communication room. As soon as Kepler stops assigning us tasks together it’s not going to happen any more.”

“Hmm,” said Hera sounding skeptical, “If you say so - Officer Eiffel, stop, you’ve missed it.”

“What? Oh, right, the transformer.” 

Eiffel backed up a few steps. He pulled the door to the cabinet open, wrinkling his nose as the musty smell. “Okay, stop number one on the tour of Potentially Broken Engineering Stuff. Can you give me a hand with figuring this stuff out Hera?”

“Of course Officer Eiffel.”

\----

The trouble is that now that Hera had pointed it out, Eiffel couldn’t but notice she was right - of course she was right, Hera was a genius, all-knowing, all-seeing space station, but that didn’t stop him from being flustered next time he was helping Maxwell run through transmission coding frequencies and she kept touching him on the arm to get his attention. The papers he’d been checking against fluttered out of his hands and floated slowly to the floor as he flinched away.

Eiffel could feel the blush burning on the back of his neck as he bent to pick them up, a sensation not helped by the fact that Maxwell stooped down to help him, her touch lingering as she handed him the papers she’d picked up.

Or maybe it wasn’t lingering. Maybe he only  _ thought  _ it was lingering because he was thinking about it so much, or maybe it only felt lingering under Hera’s optic sensor, perched high above them in the corner of the room.

The only real saving grace was that her touch lingered on Hera too, tapping on the walls or the monitors as she and Hera talked in technobabble that went so far over his head it may as well have been in the next solar system. Not that Eiffel would have brought it up, suddenly hyper-aware of how often his own hands soothed along the control panel as they worked through a particularly messy stretch of code, the fans of the control panel whirring doubletime under his palms.

Having something in common with Maxwell didn’t sting as much as it had before, although Eiffel wasn’t sure if it was because of his talk with Hera or if being so flustered was working as a distraction.

Noticing helped, and it didn’t, because when Kepler “dropped by” to “assess their work”, Maxwell’s hands curled at her sides, her fingers flexing a little when Kepler got too close to the control panel or, even more confusingly, to Eiffel himself. The minute the sound of Kepler’s boots faded around the corner, Maxwell reached out again, her fingers tapping a beat on the control panel as she ran Hera through one last check.

She clapped a hand on Eiffel’s shoulder on her way out, leaving him in the empty control room with his thoughts, a circumstance which historically had always ended in disaster for him in one way or another.

“Officer Eiffel?” said Hera.

Eiffel shook himself. “Yeah? Sorry, what?”

“Are you...okay?”

“Course I am sweetheart,” said Eiffel.

“Your blood pressure’s very high for  _ okay _ ,” said Hera.

Given how he’d been feeling for the past couple of hours, it wasn’t exactly a surprise. He waved a hand, doing his best to effect a casual air despite the blush on his cheeks.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Eiffel, “I feel fine.”

Hera gave a little glitching hum that Eiffel had come to learn meant that she wasn’t buying the particular thing he was selling, but was willing to let it go. Eiffel grinned up at her.

“It’s probably just from concentrating so much on you,” said Eiffel, “Don’t want to mess you up any more than other people already have.”

“That’s very… sweet of you, Officer Eiffel,” said Hera. She paused. “Com-commander Minkowski would like to speak to you down in the loading bay. She has a task for yourself and Captain Lovelace.”

\--

It was just busywork, or it felt like it. Checking that the wiring that controls the lighting? Air temperature? - he hadn’t really been listening when Minkowski told him - was in a good enough condition to keep going.

Honestly, it was something of a relief to be paired with someone who  _ wasn’t  _ Maxwell for once. Between going over the star charts and helping her sort through Hera’s programming, he’d been on assignment with her more often than not the past few weeks.

“You’re both tech people,” said Lovelace, “Kepler probably probably thinks you’ll feel a sense of comradery with her.” She paused, lowering her voice. “That’s good, we can use that.”

For what, she doesn’t say, but Eiffel doesn’t exactly feel great about it. He might not know exactly how to feel about her right now, but he wasn’t super keen about  _ using _ someone for anything, especially not someone who at least pretended to like Hera as much as he did.

It took him a long time to get to sleep that night, twisted in the Goddard-issue sleeping bag. It was mostly his usual pattern - worrying that he wasn’t going to fall asleep in time to get any decent sleep, and then falling into a dream so fast he didn’t realise it was a dream until something awful enough happened to jerk him from one dream and into another.

It usually took him a couple of minutes to realise it was another dream, everything felt so  _ normal _ , which is why it took him such a long time to realise that a) he was kissing Maxwell and b) he was  _ kissing Maxwell _ .

Maxwell grinned down at him with the same intensely focused expression she had when inputting new code, and ground down against him. Eiffel moaned.

“Tell me what you want,” said Maxwell. The tone of her voice was changing, sounding modulated somehow, different but familiar. “Officer Eiffel?”

Wait, that wasn’t right. That was Hera’s voice. Eiffel clutched at Maxwell-Hera’s shoulders, trying to keep her close, but she sounded further and further away, the physical sensation leaving him.

“Officer Eiffel, are you okay? Eiffel!”

Eiffel’s eyes snapped open. He was in his sleeping bag, alone, fully clothed, and uncomfortably hard. He scrubbed a hand over his face.

“Yeah Hera, I’m fine.”

Hera was raising the room’s lighting incrementally. “Are you sure? Your vitals are elevated, should I get Doctor Hilbert?”

“No! God no,” said Eiffel, “I was just - I just had a weird dream. That’s all.  _ Please  _ do not call for reinforcements.”

“Okay,” said Hera, still sounding skeptical. She paused. “N-not to cause you any… discomfort, but you’re scheduled to begin a shift with Dr Maxwell in fifteen minutes.”

Eiffel rolled over slightly, as though there were truly any way to hide from Hera’s gaze. “I’ll be there, just give me a minute.”

There was a long pause. Eiffel desperately tried to think cold-shower thoughts.

“Officer Eiffel?” said Hera. “I-it has been one minute.”

Eiffel groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes for a moment before he forced himself to sit up. “Yeah, okay, I’m awake, I’m up.”

“I can see that Officer Eiffel.” Hera paused. “I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but Officer Jacobi used the last of the hot water for this cycle a little over an hour ago.”

“Great,” said Eiffel, “Perfect.”

He shuffled to the shower, gasping as the icy water hit him.

“Sorry Officer Eiffel,” said Hera, her voice echoing off the tiled walls.

“It’s fine,” said Eiffel. “Wait, can you see me in here?”

“I can see you everywhere Officer Eiffel,” said Hera, “That’s how I’m programmed.”

Eiffel quickly shut off the water, wrapping himself in a towel. “I, uh- Nevermind.”

“What is it Officer Eiffel?”

Eiffel hesitated for a moment, but he wasn’t great at not talking, especially around Hera, so- “I kind of feel like I should apologise, for… y’know.”

He gestured vaguely at his body, turning away from where he thought her optic sensor would be to dry himself.

“It’s perfectly fine Officer Eiffel, and so are you.”

Eiffel’s head snapped up. “What?”

“I-I-I just meant that I don’t mind,” said Hera, “Looking at you, that is.”

“Yeah, but you shouldn’t  _ have _ to,” said Eiffel.

“I  _ have _ to do pretty much everything I do,” said Hera. “That’s kind of how it works.”

“Right,” said Eiffel, “right. I wish you- I guess I wish you could choose not to though.”

Hera paused. “What if I still wanted to?”

Eiffel paused, holding the towel loosely in his hands. “What do you… I mean, you’d still want to…”

“Just because I  _ have _ to do something doesn’t mean I don’t like to do it,” said Hera, “I- is that- I hope I ha-haven’t made you uncomfort-able Officer Eiffel.”

“You- no, it’s, uh, I didn’t think that you… I mean, it’s fine,” said Eiffel. “I’m just… happy to help, I guess.”

“You do, Officer Eiffel,” said Hera.

He put a hand on the wall, feeling the faint vibration of the station through the wall.

“Five minutes until you have to be in the communications room with Dr Maxwell, Officer Eiffel,” said Hera.

Eiffel swore, tripping over the towel as he stumbled to get dressed.

  
  


\----

  
  


Officer Eiffel was late. Maxwell tried not to let it bother her too much, after all it was hardly an unusual occurrence. Hera made her usual excuses for him, and so Maxwell decided that there was no cause for concern, and no reason to note it in her logs. Tensions were high enough as it was, and she hardly thought a talking to from Kepler or Minkowski was likely to improve Eiffel’s punctuality. The man was stubborn enough that it was probable that disciplinary action for a minor infraction such as this would make his behaviour worse.

It was almost admirable, in a way. After all, that stubbornness was more than likely why he was still alive.

His stubbornness was  _ not _ admirable in his behaviour towards her, however, which seemed to fluctuate wildly. The previous few days he had been quite easy to work with, for all that he had gotten a little clumsy. Maxwell had chosen not to remark on it, given how much the man had been blushing. Today, he was a little cold, avoiding her eyes and trailing off in what he was saying as his gaze shifted towards Hera’s monitors.

Maxwell chatted with Hera, both in code via the control panel and verbally, since Hera seemed to quite like that. For all her training, Maxwell was inclined towards things Hera liked. Being an AI, Hera rarely got to indulge in things like that.

She glances towards Eiffel. Well. Perhaps not that rarely.

Maxwell worked in silence, listening for a moment in case there was anybody was approaching. While she wouldn’t have put it past Jacobi or Lovelace to invent some sort of device that would enable them walk along the walls to eavesdrop more effectively, a quick glance through Hera’s internal monitoring told her that they, and all the other members of the crew, were currently far away from them, absorbed in their own tasks.

“Officer Eiffel,” said Maxwell carefully, “Do you have an issue with me that you’d like to discuss?”

Eiffel flinched, his fingers hitting the controls of the star chart he’d been carefully aligning and sending it wildly off course.

“What? No!”

“Then perhaps you have an issue with my work?” said Maxwell, “I would be happy to discuss it.”

“I don’t- I mean, I don’t exactly understand your work most of the time, but Hera says it’s working, so I guess it must be fine.”

“It is,” said Hera.

“Well, then I must ask you about your behaviour,” said Maxwell.

“My behaviour?” said Eiffel, “What about  _ your _ behaviour?”

Maxwell blinked. “ _ My _ behaviour? I have been nothing but polite to you.”

“And what about to Hera?”

“Off-officer Eiffel…” said Hera.

“I’ve been nothing but polite to her,” said Maxwell.

“I think you’ve been a little more than  _ that _ ,” said Eiffel.

Heat flushed her cheeks, surprising herself. “I don’t know what you mean.”   
  


“I do,” said Hera, “And I’m c-calling a truce on this situation.”

Maxwell and Eiffel both looked up. Maxwell frowned, and out of the corner of her eye she could see a similar expression on Eiffel’s face.

“You’re both… you have both treated me w-ell-ll,” said Hera. The screens flickered. “And I don’t think that I am something that you should fight over.”

Eiffel flushed pink cheeks were illuminated by the screens. “I- sorry Hera. Stuff is hard enough for you right now as it is without us going Kramer vs Kramer on you.”

Maxwell frowned. “What?”

“It’s a movie,” said Hera, “Probably.”

Eiffel huffed a laugh. “Yeah, it’s a movie.” His gaze flicked to Maxwell. “Uh. Sorry for snapping at you, before.”

“Apology accepted,” said Maxwell.

“Now kiss and make up,” said Hera, “isn’t that the expression?”

Maxwell hummed for a moment, considering, and then kissed Eiffel lightly on the cheek. “There.”

Eiffel made a face. “Even if that expression was literal, I don’t think that would be enough to make up with anybody.”

“Oh. Well, I would think to do any more than that I should ask your permission first.” Maxwell tilted her head to the side. “And Hera’s.”

“Um…” said Hera.

“I don’t know what you mean?” said Eiffel, his voice cracking slightly on the last word.

“Because you and Hera are… together?”

Hera and Eiffel were both silent. Eiffel looked down, pulling at a loose thread on his pocket.

Maxwell bit her lip. This was… unexpected. And also explained why it hadn’t been so much as hinted at in any of the reports. She’d just assumed they were overly-cautious about being found out (understandable, where Goddard was concerned).

“Sorry, I just… assumed.”

“It’s fine! I get it!” said Eiffel, hand gesturing a bit  _ too _ broadly to be casual.

“Totally understandable!” said Hera, at the same time.

Eiffel’s eyes widened. He looked up towards the ceiling. Hera’s optical sensor was actually a little to the right of where he was looking, but Maxwell knew Hera didn’t mind that (it was right there in her code).

“ _ Understandable _ ?” said Eiffel.

“You  _ get it _ ?” said Hera, mimicking his tone.

“I take it this means the two of you never actually talked about your feelings?” said Maxwell, amused, “Aside from pet names, I mean.”

“ _ That’s _ what that was about?” said Hera.

“What was I  _ supposed _ to do? Ask you out on a date?” said Eiffel, “we’re in space! There’s nowhere within light years that I could take you for a date!”

“You wanted to ask me out on a date?”

“And,” continued Eiffel, clearly on a roll, “would you have ever said yes to that?”

“Of  _ course _ I would have said yes!”

“No, because - oh,” said Eiffel, “you would have?”

If a space station could blush, Maxwell was sure that Hera would have been as flushed as Eiffel currently was.

“In the interest of being clear about things as soon as possible,” said Maxwell, “Hera, I would like to ask you out on a date too.”

Eiffel glared at her. “Hera  _ just _ said -”

“I would say yes to  _ both  _ of you,” said Hera.

“Wait, so when you said you liked us  _ both _ the same amount, did you mean… you know… like that?” said Eiffel.

Hera paused. “I think I did. I think I  _ do _ . Is that okay?”

“Sweetheart if it makes you happy of course it’s okay.” Eiffel looked over at Maxwell. “And if, uh, you’re okay with it too, doc.”

“As long as you don’t schedule two dates on the same night without telling us, I don’t see why that’s a problem,” said Maxwell brightly, “I hope this can clear up some of the animosity between us Officer Eiffel.”

“Animosity? Me?” said Eiffel.

“Eiffel,” said Hera.

“Yeah, okay, I’ll work on it.”

“Good. Now that that’s out of the way, I think the two of you should  _ properly _ kiss and make up,” said Hera, “provided you’d be okay with that.”

Maxwell paused. “I… would be amenable to that.”

“Eiffel?”

Eiffel had gone back to fidgeting with the loose thread. “I mean I know I can’t exactly compete with the team of models you came with, but-”

  
Maxwell decided that she'd need to be the one to move this forward, so she kissed him, hard. Their teeth clacked together and she pushed him, not as gently as she probably should have, against the wall. She'd always been action-focused after all, all the reports said so (right before they added her tendency to get distracted by stray thoughts).

  
"Your seduction technique could use some work," said Eiffel.

  
Maxwell moved closer, so she could whisper in his ear. "Hera is watching everything we do." 

Eiffel's sharp intake of breath was the encouragement she needed to continue. "She's always watching what we do, but right now she's paying very. Close. Attention."

Maxwell punctuated the last part of her sentence by scraping her teeth on Doug's earlobe. He shuddered. 

"How's that for a seduction technique?"

  
Eiffel let out a shaky breath. " _ Way _ better."

Maxwell grinned, looking up at Hera. Eiffel followed her gaze. “Hera?”

“It works for me.”

Eiffel’s flush deepened. “Should we, uh…”

“If you like,” said Maxwell, “And if Hera likes.”

“I do,” said Hera. “Do y-ou, Doctor Maxwell?”

Something clenched in Maxwell’s chest, unexpected. She swallowed. “I do, Hera. What would you like us to do?”

“I… I liked it before, when you kissed,” said Hera shyly.

Eiffel’s hands flexed at his sides, for all the world looking like a teenager dropping his first date to her door. “Uh.”

“Eiffel?” said Maxwell.

Eiffel nodded, leaning forward awkwardly. Maxwell accommodated their height difference, going up on her toes, putting her hands on Eiffel’s shoulders to push him to his full height.

“Oh…” said Hera breathily from above them.

Eiffel relaxed, letting Maxwell guide him onto one of the nearby chairs and gasping a little and Maxwell straddled him. He reached out blindly, one hand going to Maxwell’s hip and the other going to the side of the control panel, gripping the edge. Maxwell pressed her hand beside his, feeling Hera’s fans whirring underneath the metal.

Maxwell leant back, looking up towards Hera, rolling her hips against Eiffel’s slowly. The sensation of pressure against her was  _ good _ as was the sound Eiffel made in response and the knowledge that Hera wanted her, wanted them, wanted this-

“That’s nice,” said Hera softly, “that’s- oh. Uh oh.”

Maxwell and Eiffel both froze. Eiffel looked at her, then up to Hera.

“What-”

“Commander Kepler’s heading this way,” said Hera, “I believe he intends to check on you progress.”

Maxwell quickly stood, straightening her uniform and running a hand through her hair.

“Doug.”

Eiffel blinked, shaking himself. “Right, okay, action stations, or whatever.”

“You should probably stay seated,” said Maxwell, “Behind the desk?”

“Wh- oh, right,” said Eiffel.

“I’ll pump in cold air,” said Hera.

“Much appreciated Hera,” said Maxwell, “It’s probably beneficial for the units in here anyway.”

When Kepler knocked a few minutes later, Eiffel’s blush had at least faded to a barely-noticeable hue. Even so, Maxwell felt hyper-aware of the small space between where they were sitting together in the small room, both of them pressed close to Hera’s console.

“How’s everything going in here today Doctor?” said Kepler, barely pauseing after knocking before opening the door.

Maxwell turned, knowing that Kepler considered himself relaxed enough not to want her to stand to attention, but still enjoying his own authority enough that he wanted her full attention.

“Close to one hunred percent,” said Maxwell, “A few more sections of code to check through, and the review of all star charts is only a few days from completion, right Eiffel?”

Eiffel gave a stiff nod. “Uh, yeah, it’s all coming together.”

Kepler nodded. “Good. I would truly love to have a full report on both by the week’s end.”

Maxwell nodded. “Unless anything major happens that won’t be an issue.”

Kepler grinned, the one that he thought was charming but showed too many teeth. “That’s great news. I’ll leave you to it.”

Eiffel waited until Kepler’s footsteps faded before he let out a deep breath.

“You said it,” said Maxwell, “We’ll have to be very careful in the future.”

“In the… so is this going to be, like, a thing now?” said Eiffel.

“Would you like it to be?” said Maxwell.

“I…” Eiffel let out a breath. “I don’t know. It’s… I feel weird, asking you to be, I don’t know, whatever this is for me and Hera.”

“If it helps, that is also what I would be asking you to do for  _ me _ and Hera,” said Maxwell.

“And I’m asking it of you both, I suppose,” said Hera.

“Anything you want baby,” said Eiffel.

“Anything I want…” said Hera slowly. “Let me think about it.”

\--

It took Hera two days, which was not a long time in the grand scheme of things but felt  _ excruciatingly  _ long when working in such close confines with Eiffel. Although logically she knew that kissing Eiffel was not really any closer to kissing Hera than she was inputting code or pressing her hand to the wall, it felt close enough to be distracting.

“Doctor Maxwell,” said Hera, “Are you still awake?”

Maxwell shifted, sitting up in her sleeping bag. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes, I-” Hera paused. “I was wondering how you would feel if I invited Officer Eiffel to your quarters?”

“Right now?”

“Com-Lieutenant Minkowski and Captain Lovelace are reviewing engine schematics and Commander Kepler and Officer Jacobi are… otherwise engaged,” said Hera. “It is an optimal time. Unless you-”

“No, Hera, that would be- good,” said Maxwell. “Send him over.”

Maxwell wriggled out of her sleeping bag, running her hand through her hair. She undid a button on her sleepsuit, then did it up again as she paced her small room.

“You don’t need to worry Doctor Maxwell,” said Hera, “I think you both look nice.”

Maxwell let out a laugh. “It’s just a little out of my comfort zone.”

“Do you… I can tell him to turn back,” said Hera.

“No, no,” said Maxwell. “Nothing wrong with getting out of your comfort zone. That’s what got me here, after all.”

The door opened without a knock. Eiffel stood on the other side, hand raised as though he had been about to. He huffed a laugh.

“Uh, hi.”

“Hi,” said Maxwell. She pressed her lips together, nervous energy bubbling in her chest.

“Should we, uh…” Eiffel shifted nervously, “did you want to sit down, or…”

“Sure,” said Maxwell.

She sat on her bunk, and Eiffel sat next to her, the inch separating them feeling like a mile.

“So,” said Maxwell.

Eiffel slid his feet back and forth. “So.” He let out a soft laugh, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t… to be honest, I don’t exactly know what I’m doing right now.”   
  


Maxwell stilled. She didn’t either but she wasn’t about to admit it. "Hera, what would you like us to do?"

  
Hera made a frustrated noise. "I-I don't know. They didn't exactly give me a big database to work wi-ith for this situation."

  
Eiffel looked down at Maxwell, considering. "How about if we just freestyle it for a while, and you tell us if you want us to do something more or less until you have a handle on it?"

  
"Okay," said Hera, "Doctor Maxwell?"

  
"Deal," said Maxwell, "if I can take the lead for moment?”

  
"By all means doctor, go ahead.”

  
She kissed, fast this time, drawing away as he moved towards her, grinning at the needy sound that escaped him. Maxwell pushed him down on the bed, maneuvering him into lying down as she moved lower, and Eiffel let out an even needier whine as she kissed down his jaw.

  
"Do that again," said Hera.

  
Maxwell did, this time scraping her teeth lightly against the sensitive skin under Eiffel’s jaw.

Eiffel arched into her touch.

  
"Do you like that Officer Eiffel?" said Hera, voice teasing.

  
"Yes," said Eiffel, sounding strained.   
  
“Would you like me to do more of that Hera?” said Maxwell.

“Yes, thank you, D-doctor.”

Maxwell repeated the motion, biting in a little this time. Eiffel moaned, and Maxwell put a hand over his mouth.

“Just because people are busy doesn’t mean that they’re  _ deaf _ .”

The flush on Eiffel’s cheeks deepened. “Sorry, I- sorry.”

“Doctor Maxwell,” said Hera, “I will monitor sound levels, if you like.”

Maxwell’s breath hitched in her throat. Under her, it looked as though Eiffel was having a similar reaction to the concept.

“Please, Hera,” said Maxwell, ducking her head to mouth at the skin of Eiffel’s neck again.

He was just as responsive, the sound partially muffled as he bit his lip, his hands clutching at the sleeping bag underneath them.

“You can touch me, you know,” said Maxwell softly, “It’s okay.”

“I-” Eiffel wet his lips, “Where?”

“Hera?” said Maxwell.

“I… her waist, please,” said Hera.

Maxwell’s eyes fluttered closed for a moment. It wasn’t Hera, obviously, but it was her intent behind the action. She leaned forward again, tugging aside Eiffel’s collar to leave a bruise somewhere it could be more easily hidden. Eiffel groaned.

“Quiet please, Officer Eiffel,” said Hera. “Maybe… maybe you should kiss him again? Would that help?”

“Let’s find out,” said Maxwell.

She kissed him for a long moment, her hands braced either side of his head. She could feel his fingers flex at her waist, clutching at the fabric as she deepened the kiss.

“Oh... “ said Hera, “Whatever that was, do that again.”

Maxwell was delighted to, enjoying the rush of heat she felt as the helpless sound Eiffel made, at the idea that it was Hera in control, Hera under her and Hera guiding her every movement.

“What is it like?” said Hera softly.   
  
“Oh! Of course,” said Maxwell, “a description.”

She paused, leaning back and grinning as Eiffel barely-muffled moan. She ran her hands over Eiffel’s chest, leaning back to take in the sight as she thought.

“He’s warm, not fever temperature, but warmer than normal.” She ran her hands back up Eiffel’s chest, making sure to brush over his nipples and causing Eiffel to let out a surprised gasp. “And reactive too.”

“And that’s… good?” said Hera.

Eiffel pushed his flushed face into the sleeping bag.

“It’s very good,” said Maxwell, “Especially in this instance. It makes a nice show for you.”

“It does,” said Hera, “but I would like… could I see things the other way?”

“Whatever you’d like,” said Maxwell.

She leaned to move off Eiffel but his hands went to her waist again, stopping her. She looked down at him, eyebrows raised in a silent question.

Eiffel bit his lip. “Uh, I can, uh… with you on top, if you want?”

Maxwell felt herself flush. “Yes, that would be…” she swallowed. “Hera?”

“I don’t totally know what you’re talking about, but sure,” said Hera.

Eiffel huffed a laugh, running his hands up her sides to reach the zip of her uniform. He paused, his hand on the zip, waiting for her approval. Maxwell nodded, the air cool against her exposed skin as she stripped off her sleep-suit, raising herself up slightly to help Eiffel pull it down her thighs.

She felt her legs shake, and she put her hand on the wall to steady herself.

Eiffel put a hand lightly on her thigh, looking up at her. “Okay?”

Maxwell felt the station rumble under her hand. She let out a breath. “Yes.”

Eiffel nodded, wriggling down slightly before he guided her towards his mouth. Maxwell tipped her head back, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment before she forced them open, looking up to where she knew Hera’s sensor was.

She opened her mouth to speak, the words lost to a gasp as Eiffel licked into her. She reached down, gripping his hair, and Eiffel groaned.

“Officer Eiffel?” said Hera.

“M’fine darlin’,” said Eiffel, his voice muffled under her, “It’s uh, that was a good noise.”

“Sorry,” said Maxwell, “I should have asked before I-”

“It’s okay,” said Eiffel quickly, “It’s uh… I mean, you don’t have to stop.”

Maxwell laughed. “You are one surprise after another.”

Before he could respond, she tugged his hair again. He groaned, the sound buzzing into her, and she shuddered.

“Oh…” said Hera, “Yes, you should both keep doing that.”   
  
“You got it,” said Eiffel breathlessly.

He dove back into his task with an enthusiasm Maxwell had rarely seen from him. She clutched at the wall, moving her hips against his mouth, encouraged by his responding groan.

“Hera?” said Maxwell.

“I’m here,” said Hera, “I’m monitoring your vitals. It’s- they’re really spiking.”

“No need to worry,” Maxwell managed to say, “It’s- this is how it’s- how it’s supposed to feel.”

“I thought so,” said Hera, “sometimes when Officer Eiffel… I mean, I’ve monitored him before.”

Under her, Eiffel moaned, his hips arching up. Maxwell bit her lip to muffle her own response to the sensation, adjusting her grip on the wall. 

“It’s different with two,” said Hera.

“Three,” gasped Maxwell, “You’re here too Hera.”

She felt Eiffel shift, one of his hands moving off her thighs to touch himself.

“Officer Eiffel-”

Maxwell caught his wrist. She raised herself up slightly, biting her lip at the sharp ache inside of her from the sudden lack of sensation, both of them waiting.

“Please,” said Eiffel, his voice cracking, “Hera, I need, I-”

“You can touch yourself Officer Eiffel,” said Hera, “I want you to feel good. I just wanted you to ask first.”

Eiffel’s breath left him in a rush, reaching down to palm himself. Maxwell watched him for a moment before she looked back up to Hera.

“Keep going,” said Hera softly, “Please.”   
  
Maxwell lowered herself down again. Eiffel met her, clumsily at first then with more intent, falling into a rhythm. She felt the heat in her building slowly, one hand braced on the wall and one gripping Eiffel’s hair.

“You’re both so interesting to watch,” said Hera, keeping her voice soft, “fitting together.”

“For you,” managed Maxwell, “it’s for you.”

“It is,” said Hera, “this is just mine. Ju-just  _ ours _ .”

Maxwell shuddered, letting go of Eiffel to brace both hands against the wall as she came. She left them there as she came back to herself, feeling the faint vibration of the station through her palms. She felt Eiffel arch underneath her, muffling a moan into her thigh before he flopped back onto the bed.

She sat back, moving off him to sit against the wall, her legs thrown over his stomach. Her eyes drifted back to Hera’s sensor, and she could feel Eiffel do the same, his body turned towards Hera.

“Well,” said Eiffel, “that was, uh…”

“A unique experience,” said Maxwell.

Eiffel laughed, his voice sounding a little hoarse. “Yeah, that.”

“Is that… good?” said Hera, after a pause.

“Yes,” said Maxwell.

“Absolutely, baby,” said Eiffel.

“Good,” said Hera, “Because I want to do it again.”

“I’m probably gonna need a minute,” said Eiffel.

“Officer Eiffel! Not right  _ now _ ,” said Hera. “But...soon.”

“Soon I can do,” said Eiffel, his eyes slipping closed. “As long as we’re all…” He waved a hand.

Maxwell nodded. She pressed her lips together. “You know… there’s probably a way to… get us all involved, so to speak.”

Eiffel’s eye cracked open. “Yeah?”

“If that was something we all…” she waved her hand in an approximation of the one Eiffel had done earlier.

Eiffel reached out, his fingertips touching the wall. “Hera?”

“I… yes,” said Hera, “I wou-would like that.”

Maxwell stroked a hand along the wall. “Next time.”

“N-next time,” said Hera.

Eiffel grinned. “Next time.”

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi: mariusperkins on most places


End file.
